Black Summer is a television series, released on Netflix in April 2019. The programme fits into a mixture of genres; action, drama and horror. The show was directed by John Hyams and Abram Cox, alongside numerous producers and writers.
The programme follows the journey of multiple individuals and their struggle to survive through a zombie apocalypse. The strangers unite in order to survive and gather with their loved ones at ‘the stadium’.
Initial Thoughts
In terms of stylistic choices, I was stunned. The cinematography was immediately great. I was mesmerised by the beautiful long shots, and the constant short depth of field stood out as a refreshing style. There was also a satisfying use of minimalism, both audibly and visually. The use of silence in scenes was pleasing, as well as using minimal settings- stripping back what could have been a cluttered and over-done mise en scene.
I was immediately drawn in by their visual storytelling. They didn’t feel the need to make characters tell us pointless information. The communication was minimal, allowing us to discover things as a viewer - which created enigmas.
The show’s sections, switching between different groups and characters kept the episodes interesting- causing less ‘filler’ information. It also causes questions- are these people connected and how? From episode one I began relating the programme to myself, I began fearing a zombie apocalypse and wondering what I’d do and how I’d act in the event.
At first, the character that caused me the most intrigue was Barbara; I had questions about her character and was excited to see more of her story. We were also introduced to an Asian woman who couldn’t speak English, ‘Sun’. I was initially irritated by her character as I couldn’t work out whether she was crazy or just over-acting. When others were casually running down the road, she was screaming and bolting about.
Positive Critiques
As I said, I immediately appreciated the attractive long shots and great use of crisp and minimal sound. As the programme went on, I also appreciated the hand-held sequences. This style was extremely effective in causing a frantic vibe and putting you in the position of the characters. I specifically enjoyed this technique whilst in the car with Barbara, Sun and William. The film makers also used bassy heartbeat sounds, that often effectively built anxiety for a scene. The silence and heart beating sequences prepared you for fear. I was continuously waiting for something to go wrong, which kept the programme interesting throughout.
Another technique that kept my mind stimulated was the constant questioning of morals. The programme appeared as a continuous game of who to trust, getting the audience involved. Instead of knowing the character’s intentions, the constant questioning kept me watching- intrigued.
A theme that I found interesting was communication. There was little dialogue but there was emphasis on communication when one of the main characters was deaf and another couldn’t speak English. It discussed how actions were more important than communication at this time. Names weren’t even clear; I only remembered 2 people’s names (Barbara and Sun) and have to research and remind myself of the rest. On the other hand, it represented the ignorance showed towards none-English speakers. Some of the characters automatically presumed Sun was less capable (and almost stupid) as she couldn’t speak English. On top of this, they showed extreme ignorance to not even attempt to pronounce her name. She had to tell people to just call her ‘Sun’ because nobody cared to learn to pronounce ‘Kyungsun’.
Despite characters insinuating Sun was the weakest link; it was refreshing that the programme represented men and women as equal. Both men and women struggled and were equally powerful, protective and caring. They didn’t try and represent women as weak and caring, and create physically powerful and dominant male characters, but also didn’t try and create over-powering feminist characters. I appreciated the equality.
When Lance (known in my notes as ‘the weak guy’) was first introduced, I thought he was tiring with how incapable he was. Then I had the realisation that I would literally be him in an apocalypse. I wasn’t expecting him to be a main character, though was delighted by his storyline (it was probably my favourite). His character was truly relatable to me, and probably many other people. His attempt of escaping the school was humorous and seemed realistic- awkwardly shuffling down a drainpipe. I was honestly expecting him to immediately die after the long scene of him trying to escape. I felt so sad for him in the supermarket scene as he was clearly feeling so alone, abandoned and useless. He was trying to return to normality with the little shopping kart and I nearly died when he went to the till- as if that’s necessary. Everything was going wrong for his character which made me want him to succeed even more! The scene when he jumps into the caravan and opens the door to a zombie- I JUMPED out of my seat. Even though I knew it was coming, I was a nervous wreck. I don’t know how he survived all the things he went through, it seemed unreal, but I was very pleased. Also, despite my initial opinions of Sun, she grew on me. It was obvious she was a strong and capable character, but everyone else doubting her made me want her to prove them wrong.
Throughout the show, everyone is trying to find their way to the stadium. We don’t really know what this ‘stadium’ is, but they don’t know what to expect either. It’s their one goal to get to this place but nobody knows what it’s like once you get there, yet they’re willing to fight and put themselves into danger to get there. It seems like some kind of life metaphor that I can’t quite figure out. When they’re in the downtown area that’s riddled with zombies, it becomes difficult to identify who’s living and who’s dead. Although it may have not been intentional, I thought it was a great aspect- as I’d imagine it would be like this in a real-life zombie apocalypse. There were some great long, hand-held shots during the ‘war’ scenes that was attractive but also effectively placing you in the characters position. They showed some familiar faces from the beginning of the series in the downtown battle that was a nice touch. Although we had no real connection to the characters, it was interesting to see that they had too, made it that far- wondering what battles they went through to get there. The scenes were fast paced and sort of intense, I was concerned that some of my favourite characters would die (aka Sun and Lance). I was a little saddened by the death of Will, which was enough loss to care, but not a major character that’s death would have annoyed me.
I have a couple of random positive points too. I enjoyed some of the cool settings. You think of the weird places you would go during an apocalypse- and they featured some of these. I enjoyed the usual supermarkets, they’re still cool. I really enjoyed the school, seeing a school empty is interesting and unusual in general. Probably my favourite part of the show- when Barbara FLIES. I actually laughed hard but also felt sad. I don’t think you can’t laugh at that- or am I just horrible?
Overall, I found the show exciting to watch. I can admit I spoke to the screen at times. I also seriously thought about how fun it would be to play a zombie extra!
Negative Critiques
My first negative comment would be that I didn’t like the title card. I enjoyed that it was just a simple and short clip, though I felt it didn’t represent the show. It seemed a little boring when they could have made something unique.
After being overly pleased with the stylistic choices of the programme, I realised that they possibly focused too heavily on the style which led the characters to lack a little. I didn’t gather a deep connection to the characters. Personally, I found the ‘main woman’ (Rose) a tad irritating. I feel we didn’t see enough to understand her, but she was apparently the protagonist in some way. I feel that her character didn’t really have any development process, she trailed along a little and then all of sudden was some kind of assassin boss of the group. When the groups unite at the diner, they did these awkward shots of her looking powerful- it didn’t sit well with me and made me dislike her character a little more.
Some of the characters were completely unbearable- the kids! They weren’t unbearable in the sense that their characters were annoying and effective. They just didn’t seem to have any motive and the whole plot was frustrating. Fair enough, these kids had taken the school as there base and were storing weapons and things to stay safe, but them trapping and killing people with no motive was angering. Capturing them to take their weapons and ammo would be somewhat understandable, but they just wanted to kill people for no good reason, on some sort of power trip. The plot was exhausting.
Some of the scenes/events didn’t work for me. One plot that could have been easily improved was the big plan to get weapons. I believe if the audience were aware of the plan and what should have taken place, then seeing things not going to plan would have been extremely intense to watch. Due to us not knowing the plan, I was sat wondering whether it was working out or not. I didn’t know that things weren’t going to plan till later in the episode. Some tweaks could have been effective.
I was also extremely confused by the full 2-minute speech Sun makes in S01E07 (9:48-11:48). They had been discussing with the soldiers that there were some areas where everyone had died, so I presumed she may be sad that her family had died. Though it’s a full 2 minutes of everyone’s faces watching her speak. I imagined it was supposed to be emotional and artsy, but I thought it didn’t come across that way and did appear unusual.
My biggest issue with this show is the many unanswered questions. My main question: why did Carmen cause the zombie outbreak during the heist? A section title appeared stating ‘NOT PART OF THE PLAN’ and she stabs someone in the neck causing a wild outbreak of zombies, and in turn kills her boyfriend, Manny. We see her so devastated about her boyfriend’s death but there is still no explanation as to why she did that. I don’t have the faintest idea. We don’t even have a clear idea as to why the stadium is empty when they arrive at the end. I presume it’s because nobody else made it there yet, but I honestly don’t believe that this group of practically incapable people are the only people who succeeded. It was confusing and disappointing. I also didn’t understand the whole ‘fog’ situation. They spoke of this ‘fog’ when they were trapped in the diner, then whilst fighting downtown this ‘fog’ came, but it did nothing and didn’t add anything to the narrative. I have seen that Black Summer has a connection to Z Nation as some kind of prequal or set in the same world, though I haven’t watched this programme. If any of my confusions are answered there, then I’m unaware.
Final Thoughts
The ending was rather disappointing for me, as I didn’t like Rose as a character, it didn’t really matter to me if she went to the stadium and found her child. This was supposed to be the success of the series, but I didn’t really care- as mean as it sounds. I was more interested in how nobody has made it to the stadium, and why. If nobody survived it, how did they?
Overall, I love the stylistic choices within the programme. It was stunning to watch, and it was very enjoyable. It had a gritty, realism feel to it and made me fear a zombie apocalypse. Some of the characters were really unique and enjoyable to watch, Sun and Lance especially. I wish they would have considered the characters a little more and added more development for some of them. I would definitely recommend giving Black Summer a try, as I believe that everyone could find an aspect that they thoroughly enjoy.
Comments